A Native American woman and her white partner sue tribal court after they seized her newborn infant ‘in opposition of the mixed-race relationship’.
Rebecca Sanders was at Baptist Hospital, Florida, after giving birth to her daughter Ingrid Ronan Johnson, when Miccosukee tribal detectives and Miami-Dade officers entered with a court order and took the newborn on March 16.
Sanders and her baby’s father, Justin Johnson, spent the next four days desperately trying to get their little girl back after she was kidnapped ‘out of the arms of her mother.’
Ingrid was returned to the new parents after the tribal court reversed its decision, but the parents don’t understand how the court had jurisdiction over the child’s guardianship.
The lawsuit filed Friday is against tribal members and employees, including the tribe’s lawyer, as well as Baptist Hospital for allowing the ‘armed kidnapping’.
Rebecca Sanders and her partner, Ronan Johnson, are suing members of the Miccosukee tribe after they kidnapped their daughter two days after she was born. Pictured is the couple during their four-day plea for the tribe to return their daughter
Video courtesy Local 10
‘We believe a horrible crime has been perpetrated against out client,’ Miami lawyer Richard Wolfe said during a Friday afternoon press conference. ‘This was a kidnapping, an abduction done at gunpoint.’
The court order to seize the child came from Sanders’ mother Betty Osceola who wanted to keep Johnson out of her granddaughter’s life.
It granted Osceola full custody of Ingrid before the court overturned its decision and ruled the baby must be returned to the new parents.
The Miccosukee tribe consists of 600 members and is considered a sovereign nation with its own curt system and police department.
Sanders’ lawsuit is unable to target the tribe directly because of its status as a sovereign nation. But instead it targets the members and employees who took part in the abduction.
The suit claims that the tribal court had no jurisdiction where the infant was born, 30 miles away from the reservation, to seize her.
‘I’m still trying to wrap my head around how this has happened,’ Johnson said.
‘I can’t even begin to explain how hard this has been. I don’t see how people of the Miccosukee tribe can look me in the face and tell me this is OK.’
![Just two days after giving birth to baby Ingrid, the little girl was taken away from her parents on a court order. The parents got her back after four days when the tribal court reversed its decision](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/03/23/02/4A72A91800000578-5534521-image-m-41_1521770502633.jpg)
Just two days after giving birth to baby Ingrid, the little girl was taken away from her parents on a court order. The parents got her back after four days when the tribal court reversed its decision
![The parents are suing members of the tribal court, the police department and the hospital where their daughter was born for the incident. The suit claims the tribe has no jurisdiction](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/03/23/02/4A72A8AB00000578-5534521-image-m-42_1521770515763.jpg)
The parents are suing members of the tribal court, the police department and the hospital where their daughter was born for the incident. The suit claims the tribe has no jurisdiction
But it was a harrowing experience for the new parents who were unable to see their daughter for days with no idea when she would return to them.
Sanders, 28, said she too feels like she has no rights. ‘I thought the tribe was to protect its people, not use its own rulings to control its people,’ she told the Miami Herald.
No phone listing could be found for Osceola in a public records search by the Associated Press
Fort Lauderdale attorney Bradford Cohen, who represents Sanders, said the baby missed critical bonding time with her mother.
Authorities are reviewing what happened at the hospital, which said in a statement that its officials followed a court order. Miami-Dade police said its officers were asked to provide backup while tribal officers executed a ‘federal court order,’ but the order came from the tribe, not the federal government.
![Justin Johnson and Rebecca Sanders were emotional as they described how their baby was taken away from them. The tribe is its own sovereign body, meaning it has its own court and police department. The parents say the tribe should not have been able to take their daughter](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/03/23/02/4A72A46B00000578-5534521-image-a-40_1521770467465.jpg)
Justin Johnson and Rebecca Sanders were emotional as they described how their baby was taken away from them. The tribe is its own sovereign body, meaning it has its own court and police department. The parents say the tribe should not have been able to take their daughter
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said in a tweet after the incident that the tribe used its court to ‘kidnap’ the baby.
‘They don’t have any jurisdiction outside reservation,’ Rubio tweeted. ‘I’m in contact with fed officials & this won’t end well for tribe if they don’t’ return child asap.’
Baby Ingrid’s parents have had conflicts and said they are no longer a couple, but remain amicable and plan to co-parent the girl. The Herald reports Sanders was arrested three years ago for misdemeanor battery on Johnson, and she told the newspaper her mother had pressured her to get a restraining order barring Johnson from the reservation.
Sanders said her mother became agitated when she saw Johnson at the hospital, and that Osceola had hospital security remove him. Johnson said he wouldn’t leave until he saw his baby.
‘I remember kissing her forehead and telling her, ‘Daddy will see you soon,’ Johnson said.